Cumberland Farms presents new plans

Thursday

Dec 19, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Michael Kane BANNER EDITOR

WEST BOYLSTON — The hearing for a Cumberland Farms has been continued until February. This, after the company presented an amended plan for a proposed store and gas station at 114 Worcester St. that left some opponents crying foul.

Attorney Alan Lipkind, who represents several abutters, made several points critical of the way the process has been handled by the retail chain. Among them was that the plans presented Monday were incomplete, and that they were not made available to the town until Friday afternoon. Several opponents noted that Monday night's meeting was the first time they had seen the plans, some saying they had received poor copies via facsimile.

Cumberland Farms is before the Zoning Board of Appeals seeking a variance to operate past restricted hours, a variance to operate a gas station and for relief from parking requirements and sign bylaws after its plans had been denied permits by Building Inspector Mark Brodeur earlier in the year.

Lipkind said the appellate process is not the place for a give and take between the board and the town; something he said is proper under a different section of the law, meant for affordable housing discussions. Rather, the company was there to appeal a rejection of already submitted plans.

He asked the company to withdraw the plans, or for the board to vote on the plans presented months ago.

"Why the legislature enacted (affordable housing laws) is because there was a compelling need for affordable housing. There is not a compelling need in West Boylston for a Cumberland Farms in this location," Lipkind said.

Among his other points, Lipkind noted the town's approved Master Plan calls for offices or other low-impact business in the area and that, by his interpretation of town bylaws, a new structure cannot be built on a non-conforming lot, only an addition to an existing structure can be approved."

Cumberland Farms' attorney John Smolak said he had discussed that section of the town's bylaws with Brodeur, and it was deemed to not be an issue for the company.

Zoning Board Chairman John Benson also pointed out that the variances and special permit that were before the board — due to rejections from the building inspector — were for relief from parking and sign restrictions, the right to remain open 24 hours (though Smolak hinted that may not happen), and the right to sell gas. There was no question of a conforming lot before the board, Benson said.

Smolak also requested to withdraw the need for sign relief and, while discussing the other variances needed, said the store was looking to open at 5 a.m., but that the variance needed was for overnight hours due to the town's bylaw. He did not elaborate further on Monday.

Project Engineer Philip Henry presented plans that reduces the store size, from over 4,500 square feet to 3,980 square feet. The store would also be rotated 90 degrees, clockwise, with the store now facing Worcester Street, not Honey Farms. As a result of the new plans, the abutters at 118 Worcester Street, who would have been 20 feet from the back of the store, will be further away and be overlooking the side and parking lot, not the rear of the building and compressors.

"There's sunlight, there's air. they are no longer looking at the rear of the structure," Henry said.

There was also increased foliage around the store, with a row of trees and a higher fence suggested for the side of the property abutting a home at 118 Worcester Street.

The outdoor seating area had been removed and a paved portion of the existing property, an old driveway off Route 12, would be torn up, loamed and seeded, creating more green space around the site.

The new plans also called for reduced parking spaces, which raised concerns from other opponents.

Henry said the 16 spots requested, two of which would be for use by employees, fit the existing bylaws for a convenience store. The store would also have spots at the gas pumps that would be used by customers, which are additional spots, Henry said.

Traffic Engineer Robert Michaud, hired by abutters, to review Cumberland Farms traffic study, criticized both the traffic figures and the parking plan.

Michaud said Cumberland Farms' plan does meet the industry standards for a regular convenience store. He cited the store's own press releases while arguing that the company operates unlike other convenience stores. Rather, with a variety of hot foods, what he described as quality, low-priced coffee and promotions, such as free coffee Friday, the numbers proposed by the company are inadequate.

He called on the board to request data that truly represents the company's operations, which he said are more like a fast food restaurant than a convenience store.

Regarding parking, Michaud provided photos from the Framingham Cumberland Farms that showed box trucks, trucks with trailers and other large vehicles he said frequented the store. Those vehicles, in excess of the sizes the parking plan called for, hamper site traffic, Michaud said.

Other issues he raised included having employees who had to move their cars to accept deliveries, which he said reduces the number of spots available for customers, and that a gas pump, in the new plans, would be directly in line with an entrance.

Michaud was among those who said he was seeing the new plans for the first time.

Smolak defended the plans, inviting the Zoning Board to hire its own engineer to review the traffic study and parking issues. Referring to Michaud's claim that the store needs 38 parking spots, Smolak said he had "been doing this for 19 years and never seen a site come close to parking like that."

"Peer review can resolve this if the board so chooses," Smolak said.

He also criticized Michaud's comparison to Framingham, which he noted is among Cumberland Farm's busiest stores, directly off a major highway. West Boylston, he said, has far less traffic.

Smolak also said the West Boylston store has no plans for a delicatessen or hot foods to order.

In the end, Benson accepted a request from Smolak to continue the hearing until Feb. 24, so the company could respond, and provide detailed plans. Benson told Smolak that he wanted all materials available to the public at least two weeks prior to that date.

Benson also requested finite plans, citing similar concerns to what had been raised by Lipkind about the back-and-forth nature of the hearing, while noting many of the issues in the appellate review, such as traffic safety and parking, overlap the responsibility of the Planning Board.

While Benson said he appreciated Cumberland Farms willingness to consider the feedback of residents and adapt plans, the appellate board was not the proper place to work out those differences. He described it as unfair to both the town and the company, adding that he did not want the company to move forward with plans thinking it had the approval to do so by the Zoning Board, creating what he described as "detrimental reliance" on the discussion so far.

"You are putting the board in a position to give preliminary approval, and I don't think the board can do that," he said,

Because the board did not deliberate on new plans, Benson opted not to receive public comment, saying it would be speculative.